NISM - Onboarding Journey

Experience:

As it has been established that government websites/portals are made with one thing in mind- a frustrating experience to users. There is one more addition to the long list-NISM. So one of my friends was trying to apply for NISM’s Certification online. She shared what she went through and frankly, it was a disastrous experience which made her leave the onboarding journey in between.

So I visited the website, and from the first page, itself showed me what was about to come. From picture banner to text content everything just looked un-necessary and irrelevant. Then I clicked on New Account and a pop-up window appeared asking for many documents without even proceeding from the login page. Let me at least create my account!

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I did not have any alternative, so I clicked on ‘OK’ Candidate Registration Form opened. It was a typical Government Registration Form which always gives you a headache to fill. Before even I could enter any details, Email Address field welcomed me with a pop-up of 6 instructions.

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That’s a lot. Right?

I scrolled down to check the whole page, it was a long, cluttered form asking for many details just to create an account. Furthermore, they asked to enter details like Adhaar card no, passport no, PAN card no, along with scanned copies. And if you don’t have any one of them with you, it won’t allow you to submit the form!

There is no option to even save the details entered so far, you will have to fill the form again if anything is missing. How do they expect us to fill such a form in one go! Also, Registration Form was asking for Aadhar Card, PAN Card image and number. I hesitated to enter such private details and was worried about the security of the data.

The worst is about to come:

Let’s assume, I have all the scanned copies with me, there are lots and lots of specifications listed to upload. For example,

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Why do you want us to take care of picture technicalities? This website is a service for users who are willing to apply for certifications, you can simply take care of specifications in the back end.

Learning:

1. Users get confused when they see anything unusual. Like if a new user clicks on to create a new account, his/her expectations are to get registered. But a random pop-up window appears showing many instructions. Clearly, users are not expecting that.

2. Too many instructions may annoy users. Users should always get feeling that everything is in their control and they have all the freedom.

3. Do not assume users have all the details and documents ready when they visit the website for the first time.

Suggestions:

1. Let users just create a new account in one go. Later, they can fill the registration form whenever they want.

2. Allow users to save and exit the registration anytime they want.

3. Keep forms simple and short so users don't get a feeling that too much information is required.

4. Instructions need to be short and displayed only when they are needed.

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